


Love (Just Like Me) is a Work in Progress

by HeiNico



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Asexual Does Not Mean Aromantic, Asexual!Thranduil, Best Friends make the Best Wives, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-05-07 05:54:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5445695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeiNico/pseuds/HeiNico
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bard falls in love with the otherworldly Elvenking of Mirkwood as a young man, but he knows that such a union could never be.  Eventually, he marries his wife, Elaine.  She is his dearest friend and does not care that he prefers the male form.  They have two beautiful children before Elaine dies bringing the third into the world.  Bard is left heartbroken at the death of the only women he could ever have loved, but his children’s need for him keeps him going.  The arrival of the dwarfs of Erebor, however, soon changes everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love (Just Like Me) is a Work in Progress

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing in quite some time, so the updates will unfortunately be short and sweet. The Asexual!Thranduil thing is me staying true with Tolkien's Word of God that elves put sex and marriage together, only marry once, and do not have sex after they have children. So it is kind of situational asexuality. Let's see how a Bard X Thranduil relationship works out without the sex!

Bard falls in love with the otherworldly Elvenking of Mirkwood as a young man, but he knows that such a union could never be. Eventually, he marries his wife, Elaine. She is his dearest friend and does not care that he prefers the male form. They have two beautiful children before Elaine dies bringing the third into the world. Bard is left heartbroken at the death of the only women he could ever have loved dying, but his children’s need for him keeps him going. The arrival of the dwarfs of Erebor, however, soon changes everything.

The line of Girion was shamed by his failure to kill the dragon Smaug. None of the inhabitants of Laketown would ever let him or his descendents forget this shame, but the Elvenking remembered the Lord of Dale. Thus, Girion’s descendents were provided for by the trade of being the bargeman that travelled between the borders of Greenwood and Laketown.

Bard, the most recent of Girion’s descendents, was fourteen years old when his father, Bain, took him along on his trip so that he could start learning the family trade. It was there that he was introduced to King Thranduil and the guards of Greenwood’s borders.

The blush of dawn was on the horizon. A small house upon a lake clamored with movement.

“Wake up!” Bain yelled. “It is your first day as apprentice bargeman. Being late meeting the Elvenking and the guards would be foolish, boy.”

Curly, dark hair peeked out of worn blankets. The young man the hair belonged to tried to curl further into the warmth of a good night’s sleep, but failed as his father’s voice raised higher with every word.

“I’m up. I’m up. Just let me get dressed,” Bard grumbled.

“Hurry it up, then. I’ll be waiting out by the barge,” Bain ordered.

The young man pulled himself out of his bed wearily. Bard had curly, dark brown hair that reached his shoulders and brown eyes as well as that stretched look that came from growing too much in too short a period of time. He also had a look in his eye that seemed hurried for he did not want to be late any more than his father did.

Bard rushed into pulling on his underclothes, trousers, tunic, and worn boots. He looked a little shabby to be meeting a king, but he looked just fine for a scruffy soon-to-be bargeman.

Bard grabbed an apple on his way out the door, and then rushed off to his father’s barge.

As he passed through the floating streets of Laketown, his fellow townsmen greeted him happily. Bard was fairly well liked within Laketown despite his ancestor’s shame. This was only partially to do with his friendship with Elaine, the town’s sweetheart. Bard was well known for his calm temper and generous spirit. Any who needed help only needed to ask him to be granted their need.

The streets widened out to a bridge that led to the docks. Soon enough, the gated entrance to the docks came into view, and Bard waved at Darren, the unfortunate fellow stuck with guarding the docks. Bard was good friends with Darren’s son, Percy, and knew Darren well.

“Morning, Darren,” Bard cried.

“Morning, Bard. Starting your apprenticeship today?” Daren asked.

“Yes. Da will start teaching me how to work the barge today. I’ve got to get going, but have a nice day,” Bard rushed out as he dashed past the gates.

The sun was still barely over the horizon when Bard finally made it to the barge and his father. Choppy water assailed the wooden docks to no avail, but it did not look to be stormy weather coming.

“There you are, Bard,” Bain grumbled. “Almost late. What are you going to do if you are forever running a little late?”

“The sun would wake me up before I could ever be too late, Da,” Bard laughed.

“True enough. The sun comes up far enough over the horizon to hit your eyes, and then you are up like a rabbit startled by a fox,” Bain teased.

“Da,” whined Bard.

“Fine, fine. Come along. We better get headed off to the forest,” Bain said.

Bard clambered aboard the barge as his father started to undo the ropes holding it to the docks. Then, Bain pushed the barge off of the docks and jumped aboard.

“That is what I want to learn first, Da,” Bard said, looking wide about the eyes.

“How about I show you how to steer and do the ropes first?” Bain hummed.

“Fine,” Bard said, a little put out.

The father and son pair continued to banter as Bain showed his son how to keep the barge moving, how to steer, and how to get to the forest from the docks. Eventually, the barge started to hit the outside of Greenwood’s borders.

“Remember, be polite. They walk softly, so don’t be startled when they pop up from nowhere. Try not to stare too much and talk when spoken to,” Bain murmured softly.

“I know, Da,” Bard sighed.

The barge slowed to a stop outside of the gates the wine barrels usually came through. On top of the gates were two rather intimidating elves in golden armor with swords at their waist and bows at their backs. Their long hair made it hard to tell their gender, but Bard looked at their flat chests and their neck to see their Adam’s apples as his father had suggested to him in their previous lessons and found them to be male.

The two of them were rather fetching with dark hair pulled back by small braids and fair, if androgynous, faces, but Bard’s attention was captured by the long golden hair and fair features of what had to be the Elvenking. Stately robes of fine cloth and color were embroidered gracefully with plant life. A crown of branches, berries, and flowers topped his head and bright blue eyes peered icily down at the barge.

“Bargeman, this is your son?” demanded the figure that so captivated Bard.

“Yes, my lord. This is my son, Bard. I plan to start teaching him as my apprentice now that he has hit fourteen, if it pleases your majesty,” Bain bowed.

The figure that Bard now knew for certainty to be King Thranduil glanced over at Bard indifferently as the young man hastily bowed. A spark of amusement rose in his icy eyes at the clumsy bow and ruddy cheeks of the young man. The line of Girion had always known enough about elves to tell the difference in gender, so for this young man to blush was intriguing to say the very least. While it was amusing to see the children of Man confuse elvish gender and pay undue compliments to himself, it seemed that it was even more amusing to see a child of Man so flustered by his very male presence.

“By all means, teach your son well, Bargeman. Notify the guards the day his apprenticeship ends, so I can get the new contract worked out,” King Thranduil ordered.

“Yes, my lord,” Bain agreed.

Finished with the usual pleasantries of welcoming another of Girion’s line into beginning their journey as a bargeman, the Elvenking turned on his heels and glided away gracefully enough to make Bard’s breath catch. The two guards looked on in amusement at another poor soul caught in their King’s beauty.

Bard’s father, however, had not noticed his son’s wandering attention.

“According to the current trade agreement between Greenwood and Laketown, the bargeman only comes to the gates twice a week for trading. This is subject to change from either King Thranduil or the Master of Laketown. Otherwise, we will come to the very edge of Greenwood where the lake meets the forest to pick up the empty barrels,” Bain lectured.

Bard, still star-struck, took a minute to realize his father was speaking. Then, he shook his head as if to clear his ears of water and paid close attention.

“Okay, Da,” Bard said. He was still dazzled by the Elvenking’s short appearance, but he focused now on learning his trade. It was not like he would ever meet the Elvenking again, after all.

Unfortunately for Bard, it was merely three years later when he saw the Elvenking once more.

At seventeen, tragedy had struck his family. His father had died rather suddenly of disease, leaving Bard and his mother alone. Bard was now alone in providing for his small family.

Despite his grief, Bard knew that he would need to notify the elves of his father’s death in order to have a few days time to himself to prepare for his father’s funeral and arrange his affairs. Laketown traditionally sent bodies out on makeshift rafts down the river that they set aflame to work as pyres. His father wanted to follow this tradition, so Bard knew he had to build a raft among his many other tasks.

Bard also knew that he would have to face the enchanting Elvenking in order to renegotiate the bargeman contract that his family owned, despite his apprenticeship having not technically ended. Hopefully, the elven guards that watched the gates when he came by for trade would be amendable to act as positive references to the King when asked.

Elaine would be delighted to hear me swoon about the Elvenking again, Bard thought to himself. When I met him three years before, I babbled to Elaine all about the Elvenking like a lovelorn maiden. If I had not already had my meltdown about preferring the male form to the female one in front of her a few weeks earlier, I surely would not have dealt with liking the male form or the Elvenking nearly as well.

Her steadfast support of Bard made her his best friend. Bard one day hoped to marry her, if she agreed. She did not appeal to him at all on a physical level, but he loved her nonetheless. Without her, all he could hope to have would be a loveless marriage or eternal bachelorhood.

It wasn’t terribly likely that he would have an easy time courting her, though. She would probably not mind marrying him, as she knew he loved her, but she was one of the most sought after maidens in Laketown. She had beautiful flaxen hair, mossy green eyes, and a physique that the other men around town wolf-whistled at.

Her looks were only half of the problem. Elaine was also sweet, kind, gentle, and well-learned. She was apprenticing as a seamstress and did some beautiful work for some of the ladies of Laketown.

Alfrid, one of the Master of Laketown’s subordinates, had his eyes set on Elaine’s hand as well, but he was too young to start courting her yet. His position as one of the advisors to the Master did not pay very well at his level. Alfrid’s lack of money and age prevented him from courting Elaine himself, but it did not prevent him from causing problems for every other man who courted Elaine.

Bard already held the honor of being disliked by the Master for his bloodline and the affection the townspeople had for him. When he finally gained the means to properly court Elaine as she deserved, he would be in for a lot of interference from the Master, Alfrid, and the other men that lusted after her.

He had planned to start courting her in a few weeks but would have to move that forwards quite a few months. His father’s death would destabilize his household’s finances and require him to look after his mother far more closely.

More morbidly, after the adjustment period, Bard would have far more money to spend courting Elaine without his father’s presence. He would have his father’s stable job, more money coming in from where it used to go to his father, and money from selling those of his father’s belongings that were not sentimentally meaningful.

Bard did not like to think about how coldly calculating those thoughts made him feel, but the poorer people of Laketown were anything but pragmatic. Just because he would gain from his father’s death did not mean that he would mourn him any the less.


End file.
